Contenido de metales en sedimentos y en Emerita analoga (Stimpson, 1857), en bahía Mejillones del Sur, Chile

The concentration of Cu, Cd, Ni and Zn in intertidal sediments and Emerita analoga (Stimpson, 1857) in eight sectors of south Mejillones Bay, Chile was determined. Only Zn showed a certain degree of contamination in the sediments of the bay with a rate of geoaccumulation of 2.8. In analyzing the content of metals in E. analoga, we determined that this species would bioaccumulate some of the metals analyzed but low magnitude, with the exception of Zn bioaccumulation factor of 2.07. The similarity dendrogram performed with bioaccumulation index data related the values of this index with the spatial distribution of major industries and urban areas. This concordance allows establishing that E. analoga be responding as an indicator of environmental health for this system. It is also important to note that this bay is experiencing the first signs of a moderately impacted industrial area. Therefore it is necessary to generate consistent measurements, covering more than an environmental matrix, in order to control the human impact in this highly productive coastal marine ecosystem.